Behind-the-scenes fixer

The euro crisis has forced Herman Van Rompuy, the first-ever president of the European Council, to accept more than his fair share of the spotlight in the past few months. By contrast, that spotlight rarely catches his wily and vastly experienced chief of staff, Frans Van Daele. Yet from the moment of his appointment in 2009, Van Daele has been an indispensable counsellor and deal-broker standing four-square behind the president. Now the old order is about to change: at the end of October Van Daele retires, and the trusted Belgian partnership will finally be severed.

Van Daele is never seen in the VIP line-ups as “historic” Council decisions are announced and explained to a waiting world. But behind the scenes he has often been the discreet mastermind overseeing the chessboard of EU politics, drafting compromises which finally receive the – sometimes reluctant – assent of 27 heads of state or government. Affable and erudite, Van Daele works his magic by careful cultivation of all the ministerial senior advisers and by earning the respect and trust of fellow diplomats in EU capitals as well as in Brussels.

Van Rompuy and Van Daele go back a long way. They first met when studying at Leuven University in the late 1960s, and both were involved in the youth wing of the CVP (now the CD&V), the Flemish Christian Democrat party. When Van Rompuy was appointed to the Council presidency, one of his first moves was to recruit Van Daele, who was then head of the private office of Yves Leterme, Belgium’s foreign minister.

Little did the two of them know of the euro storms ahead when they arrived at the Justus Lipsius building. Their smooth collaboration quickly impressed observers. Along with a common background, they share the same staunch belief in EU integration, and the same preference for gentlemanly compromises rather than ego-enhancing triumphalism. “They understand each other perfectly,” says Van Daele’s deputy and likely successor, fellow-Belgian Didier Seeuws. “Since working here I have never heard raised voices.”

Van Daele has a nose for workable solutions, and the knack of presenting them in such a persuasive manner that negotiators from all sides leave the room believing they hold a winning hand. “He is a talented and effective negotiator, and although he has an easy-going attitude, he demands the best from his loyal circle of colleagues,” says Seeuws. In spite of maintaining close ties to the CD&V, Van Daele was equally at ease serving as an ambassador under the liberal Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt

Born to a Dutch mother and a Flemish father in the Netherlands, Van Daele moved to the Belgian seaside town of Knokke when he was 12, and went on to study romance philology and philosophy and arts at Leuven. He still embellishes his discourse with Latin or literary quotes and, fluent in Dutch, English, French, German and Italian, he was briefly the despair of Brussels interpreters until they asked him to kindly stop switching languages in mid-sentence during his media briefings.

He joined the Belgian foreign affairs ministry in 1971, having rejected careers in journalism and politics. Two years later he did an initial four-year stint at Belgium’s permanent representation to the European Union. Between embassy postings in Athens and Rome he served a second term in Brussels, before extending his experience as deputy representative at the Belgian mission to the UN in New York.

By the time Van Rompuy recruited him, Van Daele was already well versed in the intricacies of EU affairs. In the 1990s, at the Belgian ministry of foreign affairs, he had been involved in co-ordinating the negotiations on the Treaty of Amsterdam. As the country’s ambassador to the EU from 1997, he helped negotiate the Treaty of Nice, and during Belgium’s presidency of the EU in the second half of 2001 he co-drafted the Laeken Declaration, the precursor of the Treaty of Lisbon.

“Ever since my university years, I have been extremely passionate about the EU project,” Van Daele confirms. “I actually dedicated my first school presentation in the fifth grade of high school to European unification.” His deep interest in Europe stems, he says, from his fascination with history and stories he heard about the First and Second World Wars.

For Van Daele, the biggest challenge was his period in Washington, DC between 2002 and 2006, representing Belgium during the first and second administrations of US President George W Bush. The relationship between the two countries was at a historic low after Belgium’s veto on NATO action in Iraq and the legal action taken against Bush under the so-called ‘genocide law’, which allowed for the prosecution in Belgium of foreign leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

For a while the ambassador was in the eye of the storm in the US capital, and often persona non grata at high-level meetings. But he patiently and with expert diplomacy broke down the wall of hostility in Republican circles. He also cherishes the achievements of Belgium’s 2001 EU presidency in pushing through Europe-wide measures to tackle terrorism, including the European arrest warrant and the common criminal law definition.

Van Daele represents Van Rompuy and Commission president José Manuel Barroso in the preparations for G8 summits and other international forums, and suffered a small setback when his comments likening the imminent UN climate talks in Cancun at the end of 2009 to “Nightmare on Elm Street 2” were reported by WikiLeaks.

But he has been forthright to the end on the euro crisis, countering the accusation that the EU is doing too little too late by insisting that adjusting old instruments and coming up with new ones takes time. He adds that the ratification process of the fiscal compact is breaking records for speed when compared to previous treaties.

Van Daele, 64, was honoured for his services with the hereditary title of Baron by the Belgian king. He also has honorary titles in Greece, Italy and France. He has three grown-up children and is a proud grandfather of a nine-year old grandson. To relax – “to straighten out the brain”, as he puts it – he enjoys classical music and opera.

His retirement, however, might not necessarily signal the end of his career. According to a close confidant of Prince Philip, the heir to the throne of Belgium, Van Daele is widely expected to be named head of Philip’s private office the day the prince accedes.

Curriculum Vitae

1947: Born, Oostburg, the Netherlands

1971: Joins the ministry of foreign affairs

1973-77: Posted in the Belgian permanent representation to the EU

1977-81: First secretary at the Belgian embassy in Athens

1981-84: Chief of staff at the Belgian permanent representation to the EU

1984-86: Spokesman of the Belgian foreign affairs minister

1986-89: Minister-Counsellor at the Belgian embassy in Rome

1989-93: Deputy permanent representative of mission to the UN, New York

1994-97: Director-general for political affairs at the foreign affairs ministry